Cairo-based Yumamia raises $1.5 million Pre-Series A

Cairo-based foodtech startup Yumamia has raised $1.5 million as its Pre-Series A, the startup announced today, saying that the investment came from Saudi-based boutique consulting firm Pure Consulting. The round, per statement, takes Yumamia’s total investment raised so far to $2.8 million, making it one of the best-funded startups in Egypt.

Founded by Belal El Borno in 2014, Yumamia had originally started as a food delivery platform to deliver junk-free (wholesome) food prepared by professional chefs using premium ingredients and top hygiene standard to customers in Cairo but has recently expanded into corporate catering, adding a business-to-business (B2B) solution.

The startup partners with F&B outlets to help them monetize their underutilized resources by outsourcing entire food preparation operations. Yumamia uses a franchise-like model that allows these F&B outlets to operate using existing resources while following operating rules and recipes of Yumamia.

Yumamia sells the food to companies through its corporate catering solutions. Its ordering platform for offices allows employees at companies (that partner with Yumamia) to order food (lunch) on a daily basis. The platform comes with a dashboard for HR/Operations to manage the invoices, Yumamia’s founder and CEO Belal El Borno told MENAbytes.

Yumamia charges the companies who can either provide the food for free (as a perk) to their employees or charge them perhaps by deducting the monthly invoices from their payroll.

The food delivery platform for consumers that Yumamia had started with is still live but its the B2B platform has been doing exceptionally well, responsible for over eighty-percent of company’s revenue, said Belal, speaking to MENAbytes.

He also said that the startup plans to use the latest investment to expand to Saudi by launching in Riyadh later this year and accelerate its growth in Egypt.